Boric Likens the Current Nicaraguan Dictatorship to Somoza

Chilean President Gabriel Boric stated that Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo continue to solidify their rule as a dictatorship, straying far from the “Sandinista promise and hope.”

“Let us not forget Nicaragua and its tragedy. The Ortega-Murillo regime is ‘legally’ consolidating itself as a dictatorship by silencing, expatriating, and repressing any opposition,” Boric wrote on his social media.

In his post, the Chilean leader added that the Ortega-Murillo dictatorship operates “far from the Sandinista promise and hope. Today, they are more like Somoza than anything else.”

Boric shared his reflection in response to an editorial by the Spanish newspaper El País, titled “Nicaragua, Dictatorship by Law,” which outlines how Nicaragua’s constitutional reform is being used to eliminate the separation of powers.

“The regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo is accelerating its authoritarian drift in Nicaragua. The presidential couple, who in January will mark 18 years in power, has just secured their hold on power with a constitutional reform that formalizes the position of ‘co-president,’ eliminates the separation of powers, and consolidates the Sandinista strongman’s control over the Army and the Police,” the editorial states.

The Spanish newspaper notes that the list of victims persecuted by Ortega and Murillo “is enormous because the regime does not tolerate the slightest hint of dissent.”

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“This includes Sandinista commanders and militants who reject the betrayal of the (1979) revolution’s ideals, opposition leaders, religious figures and Catholic Church priests, journalists, and, more generally, any democrat,” it points out.

Boric’s denunciations against the dictatorship

Boric referred to Ortega as a “dictator” in September 2023, after the Nicaraguan leader harshly criticized Chile’s Carabineros (police).

“I would like to make a brief comment. Dictator Ortega insulted the institution of Chile’s Carabineros. I want the Carabineros to know that I immediately instructed our Foreign Affairs Minister, Alberto Van Klaveren, to present a diplomatic protest note, as is appropriate in such instances. The reputation of our institutions is defended both nationally and internationally,” Boric said.

In March 2023, the Chilean president denounced the Ortega regime before the plenary of the XXVIII Ibero-American Summit held in Santo Domingo.

“It is unacceptable for us to remain silent in the face of the family dictatorship of Ortega and Murillo in Nicaragua,” the president declared at the time.

*First published in Spanish by Confidencial and translated and posted in English by Havana Times. To get the most relevant news from our English coverage delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe to The Dispatch.